Even though this was sent to me THE VERY NEXT DAY AFTER THE LECTURE it took me two weeks to paste it. (Sorry, Ron!)
Below, find some very entertaining writing from my friend Ron Giesecke who drove for hours to come to David Regal's lecture here at Grand Illusions. Thanks, Ron!
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REGAL REGALIA
I’ve already told David Regal he represents a sort of lo-tech, proletarian Steinmeyer. By that I mean his work bridges the technical gaps for those of us who are genetically predisposed to avoiding carpentry on any level, but do not live in mortal terror of utilizing the fruits of such labor to accomplish a means to an end.
David’s Regal’s lecture at Grand Illusions on January 9th ran with parallel doctrines:
a) That when it comes to apparatus, lo-tech gimmickry has fewer inherent things that can go wrong with it.
b) That broadening ones performance focus from oneself to those for whom the magic is performed will make one’s magic much more memorable.
And both of these principles were on full-fledged display Friday evening, as David peeled off with material from his much-lauded, sizeable, and highly-diverse new book, Approaching Magic. If David was to pull a D.B. Cooper and disappear over the coastal regions of magic with his chop-cup and a parachute, this book would stand as his magnum opus. Never have I attended a lecture in which I simultaneous witnessed so much original material, but also material that had a weird applicable-ness to my own material. Something about David Regal’s child-like noodling around with magnets, band-aids, beer, and double-stick tape make even the most cynical magician realize that the entirety of creative mines have barely been discovered—let alone tapped; and that there are ways to make a difference in the art, in a meaningful and positive way.
I could list all the material performed, but I’ll focus on a few. I could blandly say that two of the highlights of the lecture were a cups and balls routine followed by an ambitious card sequence. But what you didn’t see was a beautiful, two-cup routine, using marshmallows, cocoa mugs and a warm paean to the kind of sensory memories that are linked to childhood. I’m usually averse to cups and balls routines that transmogrify the props too much. Not here. This one will go into my repertoire, unapologetically. And for those of you wanting to pare down your cups and balls approach, this two-cup piece of brilliance is waiting for you. Oh, and don’t let the actual production of Cocoa from one of the mugs scare you off. David’s got you covered. Literally.
Then, there is the “Puppy Trick.” When sitting there, watching David using the contrasting characteristics of his volunteers to great comedic ends, one almost forgets they are actually seeing an ambitious card routine. They are watching an entire moment. Who doesn’t like puppies? Who doesn’t think it’s funny when the puppy obeys the petitions of a little girl, but shirks the comparatively gruff supplications of a grown man? David’s routine isn’t really a lesson on the logistics of an ambitious card routine, but about how to widen one’s focus from the at-times, self-serving” letterbox” performance perspective—to something far more meaningful.
Even if you’ve never wanted to perform a three-card monte routine, you may want to check out “Change for a Five.” Three cards are tossed in standard hype form, and then are immediately show to have changed to three completely different cards. If I told you how it worked, you might demur. But when you see how the “how” is actually accomplished, you actually want to do it, if for no other reason then to see other people’s faces when you do it.
David’s work with coins, beer mats, and a brilliant coin holdout left jaws hanging. But the last thing he performed, at least for me invokes the hackneyed-but-no-less-relevant phrase, “worth the price of the book.”
“Simpatico” went like this: A husband and wife are seated, and asked about how well they know each other. The man is asked to remove one card, and then replace it, while his wife’s head is turned (I also glimpsed it from where I sat). The card is then shown to be no where near either the top or bottom. The wife then takes the cards, and deals them face down into a pile until she’ “feels” she has possibly reached the one chosen by her husband.
She stopped. The card was openly isolated. David spreads the rest of the deck face up. Nothing but that lone card sitting there. The room was palpably on edge for this.
It was his card. I was floored. So was everybody else. Then I found out it was in the book, too. Page 265, baby. And no, you can’t borrow mine.
It should go without saying that David Regal’s comedic instincts are razor-sharp. He is a genuinely funny man, and one very nice guy. Magic’s lucky to have him. Those uninterested in magic would have felt the lecture fee worth the organic entertainment alone.
Approaching Magic is only available from David himself. He does not wholesale it to dealers. And judging by the veritably vortex surrounding him last night, he’s running out fast.
-Ron Giesecke
